Wembanyama took a career-high 34 shots for 43 points, and the Spurs won

Victor Wembanyama launched a career-high 34 shots for a season-high 43 points on Saturday, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 121-111 for their fourth straight win.

The volume is the story as much as the total. It was the first time the Spurs won a game in which Wembanyama attempted 30 or more shots, after losing the previous two.

He attempted eight 3-pointers and made three, and 12 of his other 14 baskets came from two feet or fewer, including four alley-oops and four dunks.

The last of those field goals was a corner 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining that pushed San Antonio's lead to 118-107.

Dylan Harper, the second-year guard, finished with a regular-season career-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and De'Aaron Fox added 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Wembanyama did not want to explain the comfort out loud. He said telling people what is behind it would help his opponents.

What he would describe was pattern recognition: hundreds of NBA games have taught him which kinds of games let him play the way he wants, and the feedback loop of scoring or not scoring has sharpened that sense.

The shot chart backs it up. A player who can shoot over the top from anywhere spent the night living at the rim, and the Spurs' four-guard lineup kept finding him there.

San Antonio also won the rebounding battle 49-38, and Wembanyama, Fox and Harper combined for 90 points.

The game was not a wire-to-wire win. San Antonio opened with one of its best defensive quarters of the season, holding Minnesota to 37 percent shooting and leading 11-2 at one point, but the Timberwolves answered with an 11-0 run.

Minnesota led by a point at halftime. San Antonio committed 15 turnovers, four of them in the second quarter, and the Spurs' double-digit lead disappeared.

The fourth quarter settled it. San Antonio outscored Minnesota 28-23 in the period, with Wembanyama, Harper and Fox taking turns.

Minnesota was short-handed. Anthony Edwards was out with a knee injury, Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVincenzo were also missing, and LaMelo Ball, the newly acquired guard, finished with 10 points and eight rebounds after fouling out with 3:43 remaining.

Harper's description of his teammate was simple. He said Wembanyama is dominant, that when he puts his imprint on a game he is unstoppable, and that the shots he took were good looks.

Fox found a different comparison. He said Wembanyama's gravity is like Stephen Curry's, because a roll to the basket draws two or three defenders, and using that gravity makes the game easier for everyone else.

That is the trade the Spurs are making. Wembanyama taking 34 shots is not a selfish night if the alternative is a defense that can help off him all game.

San Antonio started the season 0-2, with losses to Oklahoma City and Houston, and has now won four in a row.

Reading the shot chart is more useful than reading the box score. Wembanyama took 34 shots and only eight of them came from behind the arc, which is the opposite of the version of him that settles for jumpers when the game gets physical.

San Antonio's four-guard lineup is built to put him in that position. Fox and Harper both want to play out of the pick-and-roll, and both are willing to throw the lob early in the clock rather than run a second action.

That is why the assist numbers matter less than the spacing. The Spurs did not need Wembanyama to create for others on Saturday; they needed him to finish what the guards created.

When Minnesota went small in the second half, the answer was the same. The Wolves had no rim protection left after Gobert was ruled out, and Wembanyama spent the fourth quarter attacking the paint rather than shooting over it.

The one caution is the free throw line. A player taking 34 shots and living at the rim usually draws more than a handful of fouls, and San Antonio will want that number to grow as the schedule gets harder.

None of that changes the result. The Spurs won a game they had lost the last two times it was played this way, and they won it because their best player decided to be the biggest problem on the floor.

The next test is whether the shot volume travels. Two of Wembanyama's last three games have produced 36 and 43 points, and both came against teams missing frontcourt help.

The Spurs' schedule does not get easier, and the four-guard lineup that surrounds him will keep being tested by bigger teams.

For now the arithmetic is straightforward: a career-high in attempts produced a season-high in points and, for the first time, a win.

San Antonio has won four in a row after an 0-2 start, and the version of Wembanyama that decides to live at the rim is the one the rest of the West has to plan for.